Kazan Cathedral, Moscow

Kazan Cathedral
Казанский собор
Kazan Cathedral after its reconstruction in 1993
Coordinates: 55°45′19.73″N 37°37′09.16″E / 55.7554806°N 37.6192111°E / 55.7554806; 37.6192111
Location	Moscow
Country	Russia
Denomination	Russian Orthodox
Website	Official home page
History
Consecrated	1625, destroyed 1936; reconsecrated 1993
Architecture
Style	Russian

Kazan Cathedral Russian: Казанский собор, formally known as the "Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan", is a Russian Orthodox church located on the northeast corner of Red Square in Moscow, Russia. The current building is a reconstruction of the original church, which was destroyed at the direction of then General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, in 1936.

Upon recovering Moscow from the armies of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1612 at the close of the Time of Troubles, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky attributed his success to the divine help of the icon Theotokos of Kazan, to whom he had prayed on several occasions. From his private funds, he financed construction of a wooden church to the Virgin of Kazan on Red Square in Moscow, which was first mentioned in historical records in 1625. After the diminutive shrine was destroyed by a fire in 1632, Tsar Michael I, ordered it replaced with a brick church. The one-domed edifice, featuring several tiers of kokoshniki, a wide gallery, and a tented belfry, was consecrated in October 1636.

Kazan Cathedral was considered one of the most important churches in Moscow. Annually on the anniversary of the liberation of Moscow from Poland-Lithuania, a solemn parade led by the Patriarch and the Tsar carried a processional cross from the Kremlin. By the end of the 17th century, the church building was expanded and received a bell tower and a redesigned entrance. Numerous other renovations of the cathedral were undertaken during the imperial period, notably during 1801, 1805, and 1865, and much of the original design was lost behind later additions.